Impact
by laurzz
Summary: DannyLindsay post-ep for 9x12. 'it doesn't matter where you are in the world, so long as your family are stood by your side, Lindsay, you'll find that home isn't far.'


**Another glorious episode, another oneshot! Loved last night's ep! it was so brilliant. so different and clever. it made for a nice change. and hi DL scene at the end. omg. somebody hold me while I cry perfect tears over them. **

As he looked to the person in front of him, he finally felt something. So far, since his dad had passed away, he had been numb. He had hurt, ached and cried, but during all of those emotions he had been numb. Now though, now he felt something. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was that he was feeling…. But he was feeling. As he accepted the badge in his hand, he could feel the love and pride from his father's badge filter into him.

As he looked to Detective Messer he could see someone who genuinely cared. Of course he had seen an outpouring of kindness and love over the past few days from complete strangers; but this, this was something special. He looked in her eyes and he could see the impact that his father had had on her. She hadn't expressed it in words, but she had within her actions. He hadn't acknowledged her, but when he had heard that his Dad, his hero, hadn't made it through, he crumbled to the ground with his mother and his sister, sobbing for the loss that they were already feeling. All around them he could hear sobs but then, as he cradled his family he'd felt a hand on his shoulder. And even though he still didn't know exactly who it was he had a damn good idea. It was the same hand that had given him the last piece of his father. He found himself tripping over himself as he tried to make it across the room to show his mom and sister, and when he eventually got the words out, he felt a surge of gratitude and appreciation towards Detective Messer and her husband.

He remembered, years ago when he was still in middle school, his Dad coming home from one day at work; just a normal day but he had been smiling. When he had asked him what he was smiling about, he'd just shrugged and said he'd had a good day. Upon further pressing he'd figured out that there had been a new CSI start in the crime lab and she'd just had something good about her. His dad had said that he had watched her for hours as he canvassed the scene protecting the boundary for the evidence and he had said that even though she was still young, she was going to make a damn good cop… and she'd also have to watch out for a co-worker. When he pressed for why again, his dad had once again smiled and said, 'because son, he was looking at her in the same way I look at your Mother.'

He couldn't remember the names of either detective and he'd be fooling himself if he even tried, but there was a part of him that hoped that the two people who had shown his father such kindness were the same two people. And judging by the look on her husband's face, he had a feeling that maybe, just maybe the look he had just seen had been the same look that his father had seen all those years ago.

Without her knowing, Jason Riley watched as Detective Messer and her husband turned and left the small gathering of people celebrating his father's life; wondering if she even knew the impact she'd had on him.

* * *

"I'm glad we did that," Lindsay smiled as she looped her arm through his as they retreated down the stairs together.

Staying quiet, Danny simply looked in her direction. He'd taken a back seat through her conversation with Jason and she couldn't help but wonder why.

"Is everything okay?" She asked softly, squeezing his arm softly. "You're quiet."

"I'm fine," he replied, leading her down the stairs, manoeuvring around people as they made their way up to the Riley's apartment with cards, flowers and other items to pay their respects. "Just thinkin'."

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked, her eyes glistening with sparkle and a smile tugging at her lips.

"Shall we go for a coffee? I think I saw a coffee shop outside the apartment building."

"Sure," she nodded, accepting his offer as a way of pacifying her inquiries for now.

As they walked together, she studied him from the corner of her eye. She had a few suspicions about why he was so quiet. She figured the most obvious one was the case and how it had impacted the entire police force within the city. Then, there was the take-down with their suspect Eric. She'd heard the bullets whizzing past her and Jamie, and despite the fact that she'd been on the receiving end of many bullets before, it never took the fear away of being shot. And that meant if she'd heard the bullets whizzing past, Danny had definitely seen the bullets being fired in her direction.

She would be lying if she said her mind had completely been at work the past few days. Ever since she had processed Mark Riley's body, she couldn't help but think all about the family he'd talked of so fondly. When she had collected his badge and stored it as evidence, the idea had struck her. She'd heard of other people doing it and was positive that with a few phone calls it could be arranged… and what better way for Jason to remember his father than to continue his legacy with his badge number, serving the city.

As they approached the coffee shop that Danny had seen, she took his hand and squeezed it softly. He pulled her towards him and returned the squeeze as they entered the building together. Standing together in the unusually long line, they stood together, hand in hand as they decided what they wanted to drink. She glanced up at Danny as she watched his eyes search over the menu and she shuffled closer to him, then, he offered her a smile before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her into him. As she snuggled into his embrace, she leant her head back against his shoulder and felt the stresses and pain of the past few days filter away. She'd been where the Riley family were. She'd felt the desperation and praying to anyone who would listen for the person she loved most in the world to be okay. And luckily for her, Danny had been just fine when he was shot… but it could have been very different and it was times like this that she stopped and reflected on how far they had come and how very lucky they were.

"What do you want, baby?" he asked.

"Cinnamon latte," she smiled, turning up to face him so that she could press a kiss to his cheek.

"I'd say I'm surprised but I'm not." He smirked as he let go of her momentarily to dig out his wallet. "I can't say anything anyway."

"Black coffee?"

He merely chuckled, which told her his answer. Yep, black coffee it was.

As he ordered their drinks, she went off in search of a free table for them to sit at. She eventually found a small booth by the window. She turned to wave at Danny, who had been watching her, and he waved back with a smile, silently telling her that he'd seen her and knew where she had sat.

She shuffled into the booth and placed her handbag on the seat next to her. She let out a deep breath as her eyes fell on the daily paper that was sat on top of the table. Mark Riley's photograph was proudly staring up at her and she could feel a little proud and happy that she had been a part of the team that had found the three people who had taken that smile from the world.

She glanced up as Danny set their drinks, stirrers and sugar packets on the table in front of them. He then took one look at the newspaper and picked it up before placing it down on a nearby, empty table. Seeing his picture wasn't something they needed now. As Danny sat down he handed Lindsay her customary two packets of sugar and a stirrer before adding sugar to his own drink. Once he took a sip, he then decided to sit back and let out a deep sigh.

"It's been a hard few days," Lindsay said as she placed her cup by her lips, ready to take a sip.

"You can say that again," Danny mused as he leant forward and took Lindsay's hand across the table. "Listen, I just want you to know-"

He trailed off as he watched Lindsay's smile stretch across her face. He furrowed his brow and couldn't help the laugh that escaped from his lips. "What you smilin' about?"

"You're going to tell me that you love me." She said with a smile.

"What? How… how did you know that?"

"Well, you said it the first ever time you told me you loved me, and then every time since then it's somehow become something of a habit… a good habit," she added quickly. "But a habit nonetheless."

"I didn't even realise I did that," Danny pursed his lips together. "Sorry."

"No, don't be sorry." She giggled. "I like it…"

"Kind of like how I drop Montana into conversations?" he mused.

"Exactly." She nodded with a warm smile. "You were saying?"

"I just wanted to tell you how much I love you and how proud I am of you today… and the past few days. You were amazin', Linds. So sensitive and thoughtful with Riley's family and I just really love that about you."

"But that's not what you were going to tell me," she said softly.

"Yeah it was," he shrugged as he took a sip of his drink.

"No," she shook her head. "It wasn't. It was something else."

Smirking, Danny shook his head as he placed his cup on the table. "it's ridiculous how well you know me sometimes."

Wiggling her eyebrows playfully, she took his hand from across the table. "It's in my job description as your wife."

Running his thumb over her hand, he smiled at her. "Okay, so don't get mad."

Lindsay playfully exhaled dramatically and rolled her eyes. "What have you done now?"

"I may have gotten a quiet word from Mac earlier."

"What?" She blinked "Why?"

"Because I may have made a comment about that jackass bein' lucky that he didn't find himself catchin' bullets; we were talkin' about the charges we had on the douchebag and I happened to bring up the fact that we had him on attempted murder of you and Lovato… I don't think Mac liked the comment about him bein' lucky."

"Well, I can hardly say I'm surprised. I did momentarily think you were going to beat the crap out of him. Plus, I didn't think I'd get away from that without a conversation about it." She smiled. "We were fine though."

"I know," he nodded. "But I mean that's done with. I mean, come on, Mac should know me by now; I'm bound to be a little emotional when you're involved. He's lucky I don't go shootin' up suspects."

"… Anymore." Lindsay smirked. "What else did you want to talk to me about?"

Danny cleared his throat. "Okay, so you know how you told Jo about Mark Riley making an impact on you?"

She nodded.

"It's kinda to do with that. Jo told me what you did after you collected the evidence from Riley. She said it really touched her."

"Yeah," Lindsay nodded. "On the way back from the hospital I was driving and she apologised for some of the things she's said and done to me in the past. I nearly crashed the car," Lindsay added in a smirk. "I mean, it was nice of her but with the whole thing about the rapist, I forget his name now… the case that followed her from DC?"

"Yeah, I know the one," Danny nodded.

"I mean, I just figured that it was one of those chunks that had been taken from the working relationship and it wouldn't really be repaired and it would always be there, but we'd kind of just move past it, you know? But it must have been playing on her mind. It was nice for her to apologise."

"Yeah, I still remember how you apologised to her for that."

"You know me," Lindsay defended herself under his stare of scrutiny. "I apologise first… I can't help it."

"I know," he grumbled. "Anyway, we're going off topic here. Basically, I got to thinkin'. I don't think you realise the impact you have on people, Linds. You talked about Riley makin' an impact on you… The way you look at Mac tells me he's made an impact on you and me… well, naturally I made quite the impression." He winked playfully. "But you forget I think about how all the things you say and do make people feel."

"Is this a backhand compliment?" Lindsay furrowed her brow.

"No, just listen. You might have been touched by how Mark Riley talked about his family, but do you have any idea of how many officers talk to me about how sweet you are and how thoughtful and kind you are? People I've never met in my life before tell me that you made their day by taking them a cup of coffee when they're stood in the rain, protecting the perimeter of a crime scene. Or the lab techs, I always hear them gassin' in the break room about how they like processing your evidence because you're always so patient and thankful when they get them to you."

"That's just manners, Danny."

"No Linds, it's your actions. The things you do matter. Like today, you didn't have to do that… but you did and you have literally given Jason Riley a piece of his father. Anyone could have done that, but not many people would have. It makes you different, Linds and I realised that when I watched the way he looked at you; he was in awe of you. You must have made quite the impression."

"Danny, I was the first person he saw working his case, that's all."

"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about." He smiled as he stood and rounded the edge of the table so that he was sat on the same side of the booth as Lindsay. "Jason Riley will now graduate from the academy, wear his father's badge and carry on his legacy."

"Which is exactly what he would have wanted for his son." Lindsay confirmed. "I just did what anyone else would have."

"See yeah," Danny shrugged her off, decided that she still hadn't understood his point yet. "Sure, he'll think about his Dad when he gets dressed in the morning but as he secures his badge to his uniform, he's going to think of you and how you showed him kindness when things were looking pretty bleak in his life, Linds. You did that. You are going to be in his thoughts for years. Every time he sees his badge, he's going to picture you handing his father's badge to him. That's somethin' pretty special. And you did that. You made the calls, you put in the release of evidence request. It was all you. You're something special Montana, and I just want you to know that I love you and that I'm proud to call you my wife."

Laying her head on his shoulder, Lindsay snuggled into his embrace, his kind words filling her stomach with a warming sensation.

"You still don't buy it, do you?" he said after a moment of just sitting and appreciating the closeness with his wife.

"Nope." She giggled.

"You're a pain in my ass," he laughed as he moved away from her slightly and cupped her face with his hands. "One of these days," he said, inches away from her face "you're going to realise how amazing you really are… and you're going to realise how lucky I am that I have you."

"Oh, I already know that you're lucky to have me." She said, her face dead serious before closing the distance between them and sealing her lips with his. She could feel his smile against her lips and when she pulled away she found that she was right; a big, goofy grin was plastered across her husband's lips. "But I also know," she continued, "that I am lucky to have you. And that I love you."

Danny reached for the remaining coffee in his cup and downed the liquid before turning to Lindsay. "Shall we go pick the knucklehead up?"

"Yep," Lindsay smiled as she took a last drink of her latte before pushing it away from her and grabbing her handbag. "I think I've forgotten what she looks like you know." She said as Danny took her hand and helped her out of the booth. "I've missed her."

"I know," Danny sighed as he led her from the shop. "Me too, but just think of what we've achieved while she's been at school and sleeping… we've found the killers of a cop. So while we might not have seen her for a day or two, she's been quite happy with my mother and let's face it… the city is a safer place for her now."

"All in a day's work," Lindsay winked as she linked her arm through Danny's and laid her hand on his arm protectively. She inhaled and slowly released the deep breath she'd taken in. "Alright, I'm ready to be a Mommy again. Detective Messer is filed away for a day and a half."

"Good," Danny smiled "Because I'm ready to be your husband and Lucy's daddy."

"Well, you'll be singing a different tune when you find out what she's got planned. When I spoke to her an hour ago she was extremely excited…"

"So long as we're not visiting any parks, playgrounds or zoos I'm good."

Lindsay's silence told everything he needed to know. "The playground at the zoo?" he sighed. "Again?"

Danny's mutterings and groans were fuelling Lindsay's giggles as she squeezed his arm playfully. Despite his protests, she could see a glint in his eye that told her with every annoyed grump he made, really he didn't mind. It didn't matter where they were, or what they were doing; just that they were together. Mark Riley had told her that in the past – '_doesn't matter where you are in the world, so long as your family are stood by your side Lindsay, you'll find home isn't far.' _She'd remembered those words spoken outside of the courthouse years ago now… back when she'd been in the middle of a rocky relationship with family a thousand miles away in Montana. Now however, she was finding the truth to Mark Riley's words. Home, when you were with the ones you loved, was never really far away. Even at a Zoo playground in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.

* * *

**There we have it. Hope you guys enjoyed this one. If you have a spare moment, I'd love to know what you thought. thanks for reading! :)**


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